Zusammen
by LeadYouIn
Summary: Five cruel twists of fate. Four terrible mistakes. Three lives forever damaged. Two monumental sacrifices. One chance to bring them together again. Team 7 Centric .


Ƶusammen

Prologue: Twenty-Four Hours (Time is Running Out)

"The difference between friendship and love is how much you can hurt each other."

~ Ashleigh Brilliant

"I can't believe it," he drawled as he walked further along the path. "It's tomorrow…it's really happening. I never…never thought…" He trailed off yet again.

Naruto stopped and scratched the back of his head, offering her a sheepish grin that held no real joy as his gaze drifted to look anywhere – _everywhere_ - but at her face. It finally came to rest on a patch of wildflowers growing beside the path they were walking along.

He bent down and plucked several of the flowers and almost dutifully offered them to her.

"You said the ones I gave you last week are dead now."

She took them and smiled back at him, knowing (_hoping_, because she could never be sure about him these days) it would encourage him to continue.

When he spoke again it was in a voice so _defeated _and _weary_ and _old _that she, who knew him better than she knew herself, almost didn't recognize him.

"We're just so _broken_ now…

_…and I can't fix us anymore'_

Though he left it unsaid, she knew that was what was weighing most heavily on his heart. Hinata laid her hand against his cheek and softly kissed his forehead, hoping to offer him some small measure of comfort, of his former peace. She knew he'd jerk away from her, but it still hurt all the same.

"You'll be okay, Naruto-kun. You have to be. You just need time."

_I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry . . . . _

She too left what was weighing most heavily on her mind unspoken before grabbing his hand and continuing their walk through the park.

And Naruto, the eternal optimist and the summer and sunshine, could only give her the smile that didn't come close to reaching his eyes. The smile that she hated to see on his should-be cheerful face. The smile that spoke volumes about what had happened the past year; about everything he would never be able to bring himself to say.

He spoke only once more, in that unfamiliar voice, before they reached her apartment.

"It's tomorrow. There is _no more time_. It's over."

His paced slowed and he paused along the walkway to her apartment. She turned back to face him and caught him in an embrace before he could run away from her again.

"It _will _all be okay, Naruto-kun" She said, almost desperately. The tears that had been threatening to spill all afternoon started making their way down her face.

"We _will_ get through this. You _will_get through this._" _

She'd said that so many times over the past year and a half that she couldn't even pretend to believe it anymore. She knew Naruto never had.

Naruto said nothing as he gently pushed her away; he only offered her the same damn not-smile and walked her to her door before giving her a half-hearted hug and turning to go home. His shoulders were slumped and he was staring at the ground as he shuffled off.

Hinata continued to stare after him, wondering how they could do this to him. Of all people, she _knew_ beyond a shadow of any doubt that those two loved Naruto just as much as she did. Their bond defied all logic and had beaten the overwhelming odds at every twist and turn life had thrown their way and yet…

…here they were. Coming apart at the seams, in every sense of the word.

Nobody but the nearly-fabled team knew what exactly had transpired (and all she knew was the part she'd played in all of it). Rumours _still _ran rampant about there being mysterious orders from the Hokage or a treacherous spy from one of the other Great Nations. But she knew better. She _knew_ that no one could cause the three of them this kind of pain but those that they trusted with everything. Those they allowed to see them as the ordinary people they were, rather than the legends the entire world made them out to be. Nobody but each other.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto had done this to each other. And now none of them knew how to fix it…

…or if they were even worth fixing at all.

Hinata turned to go inside and sighed as she surveyed the lonely state of the place she couldn't quite bring herself to call 'home' anymore. The memories of what had happened there, of why Sasuke now glared at everyone and everything in absolute hatred, why Sakura now buried herself in her work and refused to speak to anyone, and why her beloved Naruto-kun now trained, alone, all day every day without once cracking a smile or a joke were just as fresh in her mind as the wildflowers she held in her arms.

And she wondered if it was even possible for the three of them to stop destroying themselves before they realized that in doing so, they were destroying everyone around them as well.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed reading this! I've had this plot in my head for a while and thought it would be good to let out some of the Team 7 angst.

The next chapters will take place a year prior to this one and go through how exactly they came from the Team 7 we know and love to this messed up crazy version.

As for my other stories, I forgot that in order to get any messages and the like about someone wanting to write the stories, I'd have to turn on that alert (I know, it was rather brilliant of me if I do say so myself X-). So if you were interested, please message me again and I promise I'll reply!

Chapter title comes from _amazing_ (and I can't stress that enough) songs by Athlete and Muse, respectively.

Translations:

Zusammen – German for "together"


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